Professional Baseball Player. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, he was the son of Frank A. Reilly, a Union Civil War gunboat captain. He was sent to Illinois by his mother to live with her family after his father was killed during the war at the Battle of Fort Donelson. Reilly spent most of his childhood there and returned to Cincinnati in 1872 to apprentice as a lithographer at the Strobridge Company. He played baseball in his spare time as a catcher with an amateur team in Latonia, Kentucky. In 1877, he became a professional artist at Strobridge and began to play infield positions on the baseball diamond to better protect his hands. The professional baseball club in Cincinnati folded in 1879, was replaced by an amateur team, and reorganized as the Cincinnati Reds in 1880. Searching to field a new team, Reilly was offered a contract and made his professional debut with them on May 18, 1880 when he was 21 years old. He stood 6'3" and received the nickname of "Long John" by the media. The Reds utilized his height for his stretching ability and made him a first baseman. The team folded again after the season and Reilly sat out from playing in 1881 until the following year when he played for a minor league team in New York. Reilly returned to Cincinnati to work for Strobridge in the off season and signed on to play with the new team in Cincinnati in 1883, now a part of the American Association. He played in ten seasons over a period of twelve years, became a celebrity in Cincinnati, and continued to work for Strobridge throughout his entire career. When the company was extremely successful in the early 1890's, Reilly left baseball to concentrate on his business profession. During his baseball career, he played in 1,142 games and led the league in homeruns twice (1884 and 1888). He also led the league in triples in 1890 and was second among hitters in average in 1884 and 1888. He batted over .300 five times, was also known for his speed on the base paths, and collected over 400 stolen bases (only 245 were recorded because statisticians didn't start to tally steals until 1886). He worked as a professional artist until 1933 and specialized in creating circus posters before he retired. He died at his residence in Columbia-Tusculum near Cincinnati in 1937 when he was 78 years old.